How Denmark is world's most clean-tech country

Line of windmills well into the sea welcomes one to Denmark as the airplane comes down across the sea crossing Sweden to land at Copenhagen airport. It's quite fitting for a country that has emerged a global leader in clean technology and sustainable development, while the rest of the world still debates the impact of global warming and how best to deal with climate change.

"We want to become a good showcase to the rest of the world," says Lykke Friis, Denmark's minister for climate and energy — an unlikely portfolio in most other countries.

It could be more than that. When the world finally moves towards the inevitable—of following a sustainable development model and looking for ways to end dependency on fossil fuel for energy needs—Denmark may well be the place it turns to for expertise and experience.

And, when the fourth global ministerial level conference on renewable energy, the Delhi International Renewable Energy Conference 2010, takes place from October 27-29 , this tiny Scandinavian country , with just about one-third the population of Delhi and one-eighth the size of Rajasthan, will be a talking point.

Denmark is rated the world's most cleantech country and the reasons are visible all over the country: in the streets of Copenhagen where thousands of people bicycle their way to work and back enjoying the privilege of wide bike lanes and special traffic lights for them; in the countryside dotted with hundreds of windmills; and even in Ms Friis' office in downtown Copenhagen lit and heated by alternative energy.

Denmark already generates 20% of all its electricity from wind and its wind turbine industry accounts for more than one-third of the world market with global leaders like Vestas, Siemens and Gamesa having research and production centres in the country.

It now wants to increase share of wind power to 50% by 2020 as it hurries to end dependency on fossil fuels and have a sustainable development model in place. And the whole country – the government, local authorities , corporations and the public – seems to be working towards that.

The government is offering tax benefits and building infrastructure to promote alternative energy, build carbonneutral buildings, encourage use of public transport and bicycles and consume less electricity. It also provides seed capital for researchers and scientists working on clean technology.

Local authorities are competing with each other to adopt wind power , convert waste into energy and build cycle lanes as more and more people across income levels bike their way to work and study in this flat-as-a-calm-sea country. People are also increasingly opting for slightly costlier alternative energy to power their houses and following simple and effective electricity-saving methods such as turning off lights and computers.

And companies — many of them global leaders in their specific fields — are working on different aspects of sustainable development ranging from constructing carbon-neutral buildings and generating energy from wind, waste and waves to treating storm water and working on reducing vehicle exhausts to actively promoting biking and power saving among employees and simply consuming less fuel and power than before.

They are aware that the whole world will be chasing the same goals sooner than later. When that happens, many Danish companies will have products, technologies and solutions to cash in on.

"Fuel prices are going to increase no matter what and alternative energy will become cheaper over time," says Ms Friis.

Winds of change

The story of Denmark's energy transformation started in the 1970s when the country faced a severe energy crisis as crude oil supply from Middle East had almost stopped. "The government was forced to ban use of elevators in buildings and make people stop using cars to save energy," says Freddy Svane, the Danish ambassador to India. The country was crippled and many factories were shut.

But it turned the crisis into an opportunity by working towards energy independence . It started with a number of coal-fired power plants, but Denmark swiftly changed track in favour of alternative energy sources when concerns over global warming emerged in the 1980s.